The thinking behind this blog is really simple: The guilty should be prevented from reoffending and the innocent should not be convicted -- not very complex but often not achieved.

The spotlight is also thrown on feral law enforcement

Saturday, October 08, 2016

Revealed: Serial killer Christopher Halliwell once worked for husband now serving life for murder of wife that he has always denied

Christopher Halliwell did building work for a husband who was later convicted of murdering his estranged wife and is still protesting his innocence in jail 13 years later.

Glyn Razzell, 44, a redundant investment banker, has been behind bars for the past thirteen years for murdering his wife Linda Razzell after she went missing in Swindon in March 2002. He has always protested his innocence.

But there are now claims that taxi driver Christopher Halliwell - the double serial killer who was last month jailed for murdering sex worker Becky Godden - could be linked to the crime.

The pair had met when Halliwell did building work on Ms Razzell's marital home, but the double killer allegedly continued to 'stalk' her even when the work came to an end.

Crucially, Ms Razzell went missing on March 19 - a day considered potentially 'special' to Halliwell and the same date that one of his victims Sian O'Callaghan went missing.

The claims could raise questions about the investigation into Ms Razzell's murder and trigger speculation that an innocent man has been wrongly put behind bars for more than a decade.

Ms Jonsson told The Sun: 'There's no doubt he (Halliwell) became obsessed with Ms Razzell. He even used to do sketches of her.

'There is a very strong possibility that there has been a miscarriage of justice.'

Former detective Steve Fulcher - who resigned from Wiltshire Police after failing to caution Halliwell when he guided police to Miss Godden's body - also believes Razzell could be telling the truth about his innocence.

Describing how the crime is 'fitting' with Halliwell's pattern of behaviour, he urged officers to look into possible links between Halliwell and Miss Razzell's case.

‘We know that Hailliwell has killed women, has a propensity for killing women, and had a direct relationship with Linda Razzell,' he said.

‘Whether or not he’s responsible for those murders isn’t the issue. The issue is why was no investigation conducted into those issues?’

Halliwell apparently became obsessed with Ms Razzell while doing work at her home in 1998.

At the time, he was drifting from job to job, including spells working as a window cleaner and as a groundworker in the building trade.

Ms Razzell, meanwhile, had wanted an extension of her family home but her marriage to her husband was falling apart.

Detectives were aware that she and Halliwell had a 'direct relationship'.

It was four years later, on March 19, 2002, that Ms Razzell went missing.

The date has become pertinent to Halliwell's case, not only because of its connection to Miss O'Callaghan, but because it was the date Halliwell was dumped by his girlfriend while he was in prison.

On the morning she disappeared, Ms Razzell, 41, left her home in Highworth, near Swindon, as normal with her four children and her boyfriend.

The mother-of-four dropped the children at school and her partner at work before parking in Alvescot Road and walking towards Swindon College, where she worked as a learning support assistant.

But, later that day, she failed to pick up her two youngest children from an after-school club.

Detectives said there was a strong suggestion Ms Razzell had been abducted after her mobile phone was found near her abandoned car.

Two months later, they arrested her estranged husband. He was convicted of her murder in 2003 and jailed for life. Her body has never been found.

Spots of blood in the boot of the car he was using matched Ms Razzell’s. The prosecution said the motive for the killing was that Razzell wanted to avoid an expensive divorce settlement.

But, more than a decade later, Razzell continues to protest his innocence. His lawyer Rob Ross said he finds it 'difficult to believe' that Razzell could have been the killer.

Miss Godden's mother Karen Edwards also claimed last month that Wiltshire Police had failed to act on evidence that she has given them about three others disappearances including Ms Razzell's, Claudia Lawrence's and Sally-Ann John's.

Chef Miss Lawrence, 35, also went missing on March 19, 2009 - although North Yorkshire Police have denied the link.

And no one has ever been brought to justice for the disappearance of Miss John, who vanished from her home in Swindon in 1995.

The Justice For Glyn Razzell campaign, run by his sister Vicky George, also believes the links are 'hugely significant'.

Razzell’s defence team maintain that the incriminating blood was discovered only after a third forensic examination and was deliberately planted. They also say there was no blood, hair or fibres from Ms Razzell on his clothing.

In 2008, the Criminal Cases Review Commission decided against referring the case to the Court of Appeal.

(And don't forget your ration of Wicked Thoughts for today. Now hosted on Wordpress. If you cannot access it, go to the MIRROR SITE, where posts appear as well as on the primary site. I have reposted the archives (past posts) for Wicked Thoughts HERE or HERE

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Dedication

In memory of Fatty Arbuckle, a good and innocent man whose movie career as a comedian was ruined by an opportunistic prosecution. The woman he was accused of murdering almost certainly died of natural causes. He was eventually cleared but the damage was done.

A thought

I love the Mae West story where some judge wearing a robe during the middle of the day, and seated in a high chair peered down and asked her, 'Are you showing contempt for my court?' To which she replied, 'I’m doing my best not to show it, your honor.' Maybe we need to give up trying to not show it."